This country needs a National Architect

My apologies for not blogging as much lately. I've been dealing with a family crisis as my father suddenly died 2 months ago and the repercussions of his passing are still emerging. However, when Katrina hit New Orleans and I saw the devastation it caused (BTW - Mr. Brown please kindly give us a shout and let us know you are all right), I realized I needed to blog. Katrina couldn't have been prevented, but if there had been a national (read: enterprise) architect, the impact could have been minimized. One of the central themes of Enterprise Architecture is all about planning at the Enterprise level. Recognizing and mitigating risk BEFORE it occurs so as to eliminate or minimize disruption to the enterprise and optimize its performance. In this case of our country, the enterprise is the nation. While nothing could have been done to stop Katrina, many had predicted the ensuing flooding of New Orleans and the wide spread devastation. For example, the Army corps of Engineers had predicted for many years that New Orleans would be at risk of flooding in case of severe hurricane. Somewhat ironically, weaknesses in the levee system surrounding NO were reported earlier this year on the hurricane protection plan for the region and what impact the budget cut would have ($71 Million slashed this year). Since President Bush has taken office, the Louisiana Congressional delegation had pushed for far more money for storm protection than the Bush administration has accepted. "It would take $2.5 billion to build a Category 5 protection system, and we're talking about tens of billions in losses, all that lost productivity, and so many lost lives and injuries and personal trauma you'll never get over," said Alfred C. Naomi, a senior project manager for the Arm corps and a 30-year veteran of trying to waterproof New Orleans. No self-respecting Enterprise Architect would have allowed a risk like that to go unmitigated in his or her company, but who's our National Architect to see that risk and put a plan in place to prevent it?

The really sad part is that New Orleans is only one example of our country's lack of enterprise vision or planning. Where is the latest example of a Hoover dam? Or the Tennessee Valley Authority? The FDIC? The next space shuttle? Or the latest inter-continental railroad? Our country has been lacking enterprise level guidance for decades now and you can see examples of its results like the big dig in Boston, The Brent Spence bridge in Cincinnati, Misissippi Levees, oil refinery development, or aging space shuttles .

Why did this happen? Basically, the federal government has been monopolized by special interests and the all mighty dollar. From collectively as a nation seeing a regional need and prioritizing it to seeing who can get the most pork barrel projects for his/her state. From helping a state receive more funding for better schools, roads, dams, or infrastrucutre to closing bases in states that voted the opposing color of the victor in the last election in order to weaken opposite party incumbents. From separating church from state to forcing every child in a public school system to learn that life must have been created by some divine hand. To paraphrase a well-worn metaphor, our country is falling apart because the trees and not the forest have become the vision.

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1 Comments

Hear! Hear!
Couldn't have stated it better!
The plan for continuation, disaster recovery, migraton events, security, threats and epidemics really is no different whether we are talking about the human race or about our businesses and computer structures.
Matt, sorry about your Dad.
My thoughts are with you and all of the victims of Katrina.

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